Petes lose to Barrie, Oshawa

Results weren’t the sole measure of the Peterborough Petes final two pre-season games for coach Rob Wilson.

The Petes ended their preseason with a 2-3 record after losing 5-1 to the Colts in Barrie Saturday night and 4-1 to the Oshawa Generals in Port Perry Sunday night.

“(Saturday) we didn’t have one natural centreman in our lineup,” said Wilson. “So we didn’t execute off draws or getting the puck and a lot of those little things. (Sunday) we had Chris Paquette back in our lineup and that helped a bit. We didn’t give up a goal while short-handed. We had a bit of a dip in the second which hurt us but overall we didn’t play that bad.

“I thought the goaltending was very good both games. We’re missing five forwards we expect to be in our top nine. Overall, I was happy with the work ethic and the commitment to stay on course to keep our plan and structure.”

After falling behind 2-0 to Barrie in the first period, Chad Denault scored the lone goal of the second unassisted. Barrie scored three unanswered third period markers.

Hunter Jones stopped 30 of 35 shots as the Petes allowed more than 30 shots on goal for the first time this pre-season. They fired 25 shots at Barrie goalie Maksum Zhukov.

Jason Willms scored twice for Barrie while Ryan Suzuki and Tyler Rucker had a goal and assist and Ben Hawerchuk also scored.

The Generals built a 4-0 lead before Cameron Butler broke the shutout in the third period assisted by Paquette and Nick Robertson. Jones stopped 35 of 39 shots.

The Petes kick off their regular season 7:05 p.m. Thursday when they host the Kingston Frontenacs at the Memorial Centre.